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A man who was robbed of his winnings after taking home $35,800 in cash is suing the operator of
Hollywood Casino Columbus for negligence.

David A. Hayes, 29, lost the money at gunpoint to two men who woke him in his Far North Side
bedroom on the morning of Oct. 21, just hours after he had left the West Side casino.

He filed the lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court in May against Central Ohio Gaming
Ventures, seeking “an amount to be determined at trial.”

The casino’s attorneys filed a response this month, saying Hayes lost the money because of “his
own negligence.”

Both sides agree that Hayes won the money while playing blackjack and took his chips to be
redeemed at the gaming cage.

According to the lawsuit, Hayes asked the clerk for a check, but she did not respond. He then
said, “Well, I guess it’s a straight cash business,” to which she nodded.

The lawsuit says the clerk asked him for his driver’s license, wrote his identification
information, including his address, on a piece of paper, and held it up for him to confirm, making
it “visible to anyone in the vicinity.”

He said she gave him 358 $100 bills in a manila folder that she stapled shut, telling him that
he should take future winnings in the form of a check. When he responded that he wanted a check,
she told him it was too late, Hayes said.

A casino security guard escorted Hayes to his car.

Columbus police reported that Hayes was robbed hours later by two armed men who entered his
house through an unlocked back door. In the lawsuit, Hayes says the men asked for “the money you
won tonight.”

The casino “breached its duty to maintain the confidentiality of customer financial transactions
conducted at the gaming cage,” according to the lawsuit.

In its answer to the complaint, the casino said Hayes’ losses “were caused by unforeseeable
misconduct by third parties over whom (the casino) had no control.”

Ronald L. Jones, 26, and Ryan C. Bundy, 20, both of N. Roys Avenue on the West Side, are charged
with aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery in the case. They were arrested after one of them
began bragging about the robbery, said Joseph Landusky, one of Hayes’ attorneys.

Both are scheduled for trial on Monday. Police are seeking a third suspect.